Meaning

(chiefly historical) A framework on a post, with holes for the hands and head, used as a means of punishment and humiliation..

Definitions by Sense

1. (chiefly historical) A framework on a post, with holes for the hands and head, used as a means of punishment and humiliation.
2. (transitive) To put in a pillory.
3. (transitive, figurative) To subject to humiliation, scorn, ridicule or abuse.
4. (transitive) To criticize harshly.

Example Sentences

Maires and Maceris that meanes be betwene / The Kynge and the comon to kepe the lawes / To pũnyſhen on pyleries and pynning ſtoles / Bruſterrs and bakeſters, bochers and cokes / For theſe ar mẽ on this mold þᵉ moſt harme worketh / To the pore people that percel mele byghe[...]

Cros·! þou dost no trouþe ; / On a pillori· my fruit to pinne, / He haþ no spot· of Adam sinne ; / Flesch· and veines· nou fleo a-twinne, / Wherfore I· rede of routhe·:

[…]I haue stood on the Pillorie for Geese he hath kil'd, […]

The other replied, That for ought they could ſee, the men were quiet, and ſober, and intended no body any harm ; and that there were many that Traded in their fair, that were more worthy to be put into the Cage, yea, and the Pillory too, then were the men that they had abuſed.

To ensure good behavior, the slaveholder relies on the whip; […] to imbrute and destroy his manhood, he relies on the whip, the chain, the gag, the thumb-screw, the pillory, the bowie-knife, the pistol, and the blood-hound.

It was famous, too, for the pillory, a wise old institution, that inflicted a punishment of which no one could foresee the extent; also, for the whipping-post, another dear old institution, very humanising and softening to behold in action; […].

There was no malice in my rubbish; but it laughed at the captain. It laughed at a man to whom such a thing was new and strange and dreadful. I did not know then, though I do now, that there is no suffering comparable with that which a private person feels when he is for the first time pilloried in print.

Mike Sarne would end up making a celluloid disasterpiece that is to this day pilloried as one of the worst films ever made.

Word Forms

• pillories
• pillorying
• pilloried

Synonyms for pillory

Related Words

When Should You Use Pillory?

Use pillory when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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